P.M. BRIEFING : Aussies to Fight Press Buyout
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LONDON — Australian Treasurer Paul Keating said today that his government would object to British publisher Robert Maxwell’s plans to take a 49% stake in the West Australian Newspaper.
Maxwell plans to buy the holding from troubled Australian financier Alan Bond’s Bell Group Ltd. for the equivalent of about $192.5 million.
It amounts to a controlling interest, which would run counter to the country’s laws on foreign press ownership, Keating told a London news conference.
Keating said the Australian government has “always taken a very strict view of newspaper ownership” and will not agree to the sale as it now stands.
Keating defined as “controlling” anything above a 25% interest. He declined to comment further.
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